CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday for the first time t

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CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday for the first time that fracking a controversial method of improving the productivity of oil and gas wells may be to blame for causing groundwater pollution.
The draft finding could have significant implications while states try to determine how to regulate the process. Environmentalists characterized the report as a significant development though it met immediate criticism from the oil and gas industry and a U.S. senator.
The EPA found that compounds likely associated with fracking chemicals had been detected in the groundwater beneath interprise rent a car Pavillion, a small community in central Wyoming where residents say their well water reeks of chemicals. Health officials last year advised them not to drink their water after the EPA found low levels hydrocarbons in their wells.
EPA s highest priority remains ensuring that Pavillion residents have access to safe drinking water, said Jim Martin, EPA regional administrator in Denver. We look forward to having these findings in the draft report informed by a transparent and public review process.
The EPA also emphasized that the findings are specific interprise rent a car to the Pavillion interprise rent a car area. The agency said the fracking that occurred in Pavillion differed from fracking methods used elsewhere in regions with different geological characteristics.
The fracking occurred below the level of the drinking water aquifer and close to water wells, the EPA said. Elsewhere, drilling is more remote interprise rent a car and fracking occurs much deeper than the level of groundwater that would normally be used.
This is an important first indication there are potential problems with fracking that can impact domestic water wells. It s I think a clarion call to industry to make sure they take a great deal of care in their drilling practices, said Steve Jones with the Wyoming Outdoor Council.
Calgary, Alberta-based Encana Corp. owns the Pavillion gas field. interprise rent a car An announced $45 million sale to Midland, Texas-based Legacy Reserves LP fell through last month amid what Encana said were Legacy s concerns about the EPA investigation.
Its findings are premature, given that the Agency has not gone through the necessary peer-review process, and there are still serious outstanding questions regarding EPA s data and methodology, the Oklahoma Republican said in a statement.
The public and industry representatives packed an 11-hour hearing on the issue in Denver on Monday. They all generally supported the proposal but the sticking point is whether trade secrets would have to be disclosed and how quickly the information would have to be turned over.
The issue has been highly contentious in New York, where some upstate residents and politicians argue that the gas industry will bring desperately needed jobs while others demand a ban on fracking to protect water supplies. New York regulators haven t issued permits for gas drilling with high-volume hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale since they began an extensive environmental review in 2008.
Kate Sinding, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council in New York City, said in an email Thursday that the EPA in Wyoming is now recognizing what other experts and families in fracking interprise rent a car communities have known for some time: Fracking poses serious threats to safe drinking water.
Protection of drinking water in Colorado is of the highest importance to us and therefore we look forward to reviewing EPA s draft analysis, as well as feedback from other parties, including Wyoming, on this matter, interprise rent a car he said.
Texas oil and gas producers consider interprise rent a car public health and safety of paramount importance. The EPA has prematurely stirred similar public concerns in the past, only to have their findings crumble under peer review. The Pavillion report is filled interprise rent a car with statements of conjecture and speculation, evidenced by the EPA s repeated use of the words likely may and possible throughout the report.  We are extremely proud of the extraordinary record of safety that has been maintained by the industry for over 60 years of utilizing the hydraulic fracturing process in Texas. interprise rent a car At this point, any conclusions drawn from the Pavillion findings are premature and should be reserved until the report can be properly peer reviewed.
It is unfortunate that we have had such a lack of leadership in North Texas. Now we have 15,000 wells and only one of them has to have a problem before our aquifers are potentially contaminated. Where is the accountability?